10 June 2012 Latin American and Caribbean Chapter President’s report Since assuming the LACC presidency during World Aquaculture 2011, I have been working closely with all members of the Board of Directors to organize the chapter and give more visibility to its actions. Our highest priorities and challenges are to contribute to the strengthening of aquaculture in the region and the establishment of linkages and communication between the countries of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Currently the LACC has 281 active members: 88 from the USA (the majority!), 76 from Brazil, 30 from Mexico, 10 from Colombia, 9 from Peru, 8 from Chile, 6 from Argentina and 5 from Ecuador. Other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have 1 or 2 members (Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Guadeloupe). We also have members from around the world, including distant countries (e.g., Vietnam, Micronesia, New Caledonia, Australia, the Philippines, Iran, India and several European countries). From this picture we can see that, in several LACC countries where aquaculture is developed, the number of members is low, demanding actions to improve their participation in the Chapter. Communication within the chapter was greatly improved in our term. In April 2012 we had a mid-year meeting in São Paulo, Brazil, and four of seven members were present. During this meeting we discussed the possibility of developing a Country Ambassador program, following what is done by the Asian-Pacific Chapter (APC), aiming at to help the LACC recruit members and identify aquaculture organizations/expertise and national and regional issues. If you would like to apply for this position, please contact me (portella@caunesp.unesp.br). We are also working hard to improve communication to Chapter members as well. The LACC website is being revised, updated and will move soon to the was.org domain. A web designer in Brazil has been specifically hired for this purpose. I hope to set up the new website soon and make it more useful for our membership. It is critical to count on membership contributions to constantly improve the website and I request that members send us information about aquaculture activities in your region, events, and job and training opportunities. This collaboration will strengthen communication among the various segments that comprise aquaculture in the LACC region. As soon as we have the website ready, we will post two books (Patologia e Immunologia de Camarones Peneidos and Manual de Buenas Practicas de Manejo para el Cultivo del Camarón Blanco Penaeus vannamei) for free-of-charge download for LACC members. We thank LACC Past President Juan Pablo Lazo and WAS Past President Craig Bowdy for their efforts to have these books reviewed and made available for LACC members. The student representative on the LACC Board of Directors, Marcelo Shei, is very dynamic, and is actively giving special attention to the WAS page on Facebook (www.facebook. com/groups/73133442568/), posting news, announcements of scholarships, educational opportunities, job vacancies, conferences and more. I invite all members, especially students, to visit and join the LACC student Facebook page. Considering the importance of scientific and commercial conferences to disseminate aquaculture-related information and to increase the visibility of the chapter, we are working in support of three events in 2012: 1. The South American Symposium on Microencapsulation will be held in Limeira, SP, Brazil (impascience.eu/ bioencapsulation/2012_Limeira/) from April 30 to May 2; 2. The International Mariculture Seminar: Science and Technology for Sustainable Mariculture, organized by Ricardo Martino (WAS President), in Angra dos Reis, RJ, Brazil, from November 6 to 9. This conference will be the official LACC meeting in 2012; 3. The III AquaPesca Brasil 2012 – International Fishery and Aquaculture Fair, planned for November 7 to 9, at Bahia Convention Center, Salvador, Brazil (aquapescabrasil.porta80.com.br/index2012.html). The LACC Board of Directors is also exploring other opportunities to give institutional support to future meetings in Latin American and Caribbean countries. If you are organizing an aquaculture conference and want LACC participation, please contact us. The Board welcomes the opportunity to evaluate any possibility of joint events, interaction with colleagues and contact with commercial sectors. At last but not least, two other points were subject of profound debate by the LACC Board members: elections and the two-year period for LACC Officers, following the tendency adopted by other WAS Chapters. Currently, the LACC Board is not complete: there is no President-Elect and a Director (at-large Board member) must be elected because the term has already expired. For this reason, the Past President is organizing elections to reconstitute the full Board as soon as possible. Taking the opportunity (Continued on next page)
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